You know that you are in America when football does not mean soccer although the World Cup competition has aroused the sleeping giant of American audiences.
It all goes to show that games are won by players who focus on the playing field, not by those whose eyes are glued to the scoreboard.
The prestigious biennial business conference and exhibition – the Africa Trade and Investment Global Summit (ATIGS) got underway in Washington bringing key economic players from more than 70 countries to the nation’s capital.
Specifically designed to promote and facilitate international trade between the Americas, Asia, Caribbean, the European Union and Africa, the event provided a platform for businesses to expand into new markets, the organizers said.
Among the crowd were foreign government delegations, African buyers and journalists, high profile leaders, project developers, international investors and company representatives with products and services relevant to African markets.
Could it be true?Feeling disgusted helps one stay healthy though most people would rather not feel the unpleasant emotion.Health officials in a bid to calm tension said disgust helps avoid disease and infection quoting new research.
Long before microscopes revealed unseen germs and parasites, humans had developed a system of disgust with six basic triggers, warning us to turn away from harmful pathogens.
“Disgust evolved to protect us from diseases in our ancient past. The disgust response may or may not be a good guide to what might make us sick today,” said a lead author of the study.
Second largest on the disgust barometer were violations of hygiene norms such as bad body odour. So you better watch out where the slippery edge is.
One greater concern these days is the rising suicide rates in the United States which have escalated more than 25 percent since 1999, the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) said.
It’s one of the leading causes of death.
Twenty-five States have experienced a rise by more than 30 percent with more than half of those who died by suicide not diagnosed with mental health condition.
Suicide is one of the top ten causes of death in the US right now and one of the three causes considered as a public health problem.
In 2006, about 45,000 lives were lost to suicide with Montana experiencing 29 suicides for every 100,000 people, the highest in the nation, compared to seven people out of every 100,000 in the District of Columbia.
Organizers for the African Diaspora Investment Symposium told me that plans for its January 2019 event are completed.
The occasion will celebrate, at the highest levels, Africans and friends of Africa who have contributed their time, talent and intellectual as well as resources to make positive impact on the lives of the millions of people in Africa.
It will spark partnerships between Africans and friends of Africa that will lead to fruitful outcomes for the continent.
With the world full of distrust among nations and peoples, it is difficult to point a finger at whom to trust these days.
The University of Iowa, incidentally my alma mater, ran a random poll and came out with astonishing results on the issue of trust. In the preamble, the poll noted, “American diminishing trust has been making news for years without detection. At the peak of the late 1960s, more than 56 percent of Americans surveyed said they thought most people can be trusted. By 2016, fewer than one in three agreed.”
Trusting the institutions including politics, the media and employers has fallen too. The US now trails most developed countries by global measures of trust.
Thought for the week… Don’t complain about the cooking when you spouse is the cook.
By Roc Mac-Johnson
Friday June 29, 2018.
ADVERTISEMENT